Leather-cutting machine



2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

W. 0. JAMES.

LEATHER CUTTING MACHINE.

No. 368,672. Patented Aug. 23, 1887.

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NITED STATES WILLARD 0. JAMES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LEATHER -CUTTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 368,672, dated August23, 18:87.

Application filed December 10, 1886. Serial No. 221,176.

wealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Machines for Cutting Leather into Blanks, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for cut ting leather into blanks; andit consists ofthe combination and devices, hereinafter described andclaimed, for clamping the leather and spacing and gaging the blanks.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a machineconstructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a horizontalcross-section on the line :10 min Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical section onthe liner yin Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a right-side elevation of such machine;Fig. '5, a side elevation in detail of the spacingrod and of the meansused to adjust the same longitudinally; Fig. 6, a left-side elevation ofthe spacingrod and its supportingbracket: Fig, 7, a vertical section onthe line 2 zin Fig. 5; Fig. 8, a side elevation of the cutting-block andthe gaging mechanism and a cross-section of the spacing-rod.

The frame is represented by A, clutch-shaft by B, friction-clutch by BB, par-t B of which is also a drivingpulley, which runs loosely on theshaft B and has a constant motion imparted to it by a suitable belt.(Not shown.) The other part, B, splined onto said shaft and turning withit, is capable of sliding thereon. A collar, B is secured to said shaftB, the part B and the collar B being beveled at their adj acent outeredges, at I) b, to form a V-shaped groove when these parts are incontact, to allow a finger, 0, provided with a V-shaped end, a, andforming a part of the treadle or lever C, to enter between-them and topress them apart when the front end of said treadle is depressed by thefoot of the operator, to cause the clutch part B to slide and engage itscounterpart B and rotate the shaft B, the clutch being uncoupled bysprings (not shown) in the usual manner. The springs a raise the treadle0 when the foot of the operator is removed therefrom. The brakepulleys BB are secured to the shaft B, and the brake-shoes c c are secured to thetreadle O and press against said brakepulley (when said treadle G is notdepressed) to stop the motion of the shaft B. These parts (No model.)

are all of the usual operation and of any usual suitable construction.

Secured to the shaft B are pinions B B, which engage gears D D on themain shaft D and cause the latter shaft to revolve when the treadle O isdepressed, in the usual manner. Secured to the ends of the main shaft Dare crank-wheels D D, provided with wrist-pins d d, the latter beingconnected by pitnian-rods EE to studs ff, which project from oppositesides of the sliding head F and cause said sliding head to have areciprocating vertical motion when the shaft D is revolved, in the usualmanner.

The cutting die or knife 9, instead of being fastened to the head F inthe usual manner, is secured to a knife-block, G, which is arrangedbelow said head and which has a horizontal traverse thereon, said headbeing provided with lateral flanges f f, and the knife block or carriageG being provided with vertical ears g whichreach up outside of saidflanges and overlie the same to support said knife-block upon said head.To facilitate the motion of said knife-block upon said head the upperends of said ears are, preferably, provided with anti-friction rolls 9 gg, which rest upon said flanges. This construction allows theknife-block, with the knife, to be moved after each descent of the headF to out another blank without moving the leather or other stock, which,while being cut, rests upon the cutting-block H, the upper or cuttingsurface of which is horizontal or at right angles to the path of thehead F. The cutting-block is vertically adjustable in the usual manner,the block proper being generally of wood and resting upon ahorizontalmetallic plate, h, to the under side of which are secured, near each endthereof, vertical screws h If 71?, (one screw of one pair not beingshown,) the lower ends of which pass through threaded holes inhorizontal bevel-gears h" its, (two being shown,) which engage withother bevelgears, h h on the parallel horizontal shafts k h, each ofwhich shafts h h has two such gears (only one being shown on each shaftin Fig. 3) and one worm-wheel, h h, which engages a worm, h It, securedto a horizontal shaft, h, arranged at right angles to the shafts if hand supported in the frame A and providedwith a crank and hand-wheel, h,by means of which said shaft h may be turned to adjust the block H tothe cutting-edges of the die or knife 9 when the head F is in its lowestposition.

To enable the cutting-knife to be moved rapidly over the stock andcaused to descend in the proper place to cuteach blank as near aspossible to the place from which the next preceding blank was cut, andthus to avoid waste, I use a spacing-rod, I, generally cylindrical, butprovided with. straight rows of notches i, Fig. 5, one side of eachnotch being at about right angles with the axis of said rod and theother side of said notch being slightly inclined to said axis, as shownin Fig. 5, one end, i, of which spacing-rod is squarein crosssection(the fiat sideof the square portion of said spacing-rod being in linewith the rows of notches) and slides in a round hole, f, in adownhanging bracket, f, Fig. 6, secured-to said head F, and the otherend of which rod is provided with a screw 6, which engages ascrew-thread formed in the sleeve K, said sleeve being provided with ahand-wheel, k, by means of which it is rotated in the bracket f alsosecured to said head F. The sleeve K is prevented from longitudinalmotion in said bracket f 5 by the shoulder on one side of said bracketand by the collar k on the other side thereof, so that turning saidsleeve slides said rod I endwise, said rod being prevented from turningby a square notch, Z,in the lower end of the plate L, the latter beingprovided with avertical slot, Z, through which a screw or stud, Z ispassed into the bracket f said notch Z embracing the square end of saidrod I. After sliding the plate L upward until the holding-notch Z isclear of the rod I, the latter may be rotated on its axis, for a purposeto be explained. The gage-plate M is preferably of sheet metal and isprovided with a longitudinal slot, m, through which pass two cap screwsor studs, mm into one side of the knife-block, the heads of said screwsbeing of greater diameter than the width of the slot m and retaining'thegage.

plate on the knife-block and allowing it to slide thereon in ahorizontal direction at right angles to the path of said knife-block.The rear end of the gage-plate is straight and vertical, and is forcedagainst the spacing-rod by the contraction of the spiral spring m,attached at one end to the front end of said gage plate by a stud orscrew, m, the other end of said spring m being attached to thestationary screw m.

The gage-plate may be drawn forward out of contact with the spacing-rodby grasping the stud or screw m. When the knife-block is descending, therear end of the gage-plate rests in the bottom of one of the notches ofthe spacing-rod againstthe short side of said notch.

It is evident that the gage-plate will not prevent the knife-block frombeing moved along over the spacing-rod toward the square end of saidrod-that is, to the left in Fig. 5* because the longer slightly-inclinedsides of the spacing-notches, or notches in the spacingrod, will forcethe gage-plate forward; but when the knife-block is attempted to bemoved in the other direction (from left to right in Fig. 5) the rear endof the gage-plate will strike against the short side of a spacing-notchand prevent the motion of said knife-block, rendering it necessary todraw the gage-plate forward (to the left in Fig. 8) before moving theknife-block to the right. All the spacingnotches of the same row are ofequal length and are arranged at equal intervals from each other, thedistance between the short side of any spacing-notch and the short sideof the next spacing-notch of the same row being equal to the properdistance apart of successive cuts of the knife. side of onespacing-notch to the short side of the next spacing-notch, thoughconstant in the same row of spacing-notches, differs in different rowsof the same, one row being intended to gage one kind of blanks- 21s, forinstance, soles-another to gage halfsoles, and another to gageheellifts, and so on, or the different rows of spacing notches may bearranged to gage properly difi'erent-sized blanks of the same ind.

In order that the spacing-rod may be removed from the machine andanother substituted for it, the screw-thread portion of said rod is oflarger diameter than the diameter of the rest of the rod, so that byraising the plate L said rod may be turned and drawn out through thesleeve K to the right in Fig. 5 and a new rod passed through said sleevefrom right to left, square end first. This allows of a large number ofspacing-rods, each designed for different kind of blanks, being used inthe same machine. The principal object, however, of screw-threading oneend of the spacing-rod and of using the internally-threaded sleeve K andhand-wheel k is to adjust the spacing-rod longitudinally, so that afterthe leather or other stock has been clamped in the machine theknife-block maybe brought into such a position with its gage-plateresting against the short side of one of the spacing-notches, as abovedescribed, as to bring the first cut of the knife in the mostadvantageousposition and as near the edge of the stock as possible, andcuta complete blank. 1

Before operating the machine it is necessary to clamp the stock firmlyupon the cutting block. block serves as one jaw of the clamp, the otherbeing a bar, N, the lower edge of which is straight and parallel to thecutting-surface of said block, and the ends of which bar are attached toconnecting rods which extend downward inside of the frame A and arepivoted at their lower ends to a treadle or lever, O, the latter beingpivoted at its rear end to the frame A back of said connectingrods P,the front end of said treadle extending for some distance in front ofthe machine. The leather or other stoclgbeing placed upon In thismachine the cutting,

The distance from the short IIO the cutting-block, is clamped betweensaid block and the clamping-bar N by depressing the front end of thetreadle O, which is held down by a catch, 0, pivoted to the floor of theworkshop in front of said treadle, said catch being a bell-crank lever,the vertical arm of which is provided with a backwardly-projecting hook,o, and above said hook is beveled or inclined at 0 in such a manner thatwhen the treadle O isdepressed upon the inclined part 0 the catch orlever 0 will be turned on its pivot and the hook will be thrown forwarduntil the treadle passes below the hook,which is then thrown forwardover the tread 0 of said treadle O by a spring, 0", which presses thelower horizontal arm of the catch upward, said spring being attached tothe floor or to the stand which supports said catch 0. Upon pressing thefoot upon the front horizontal arm of said catch 0, the treadle isreleased and drawn upward by springs 0 0, connecting said treadle O andframe A, above said treadle. After cutting across the side of leather orother sheet of stock, it is neces sary to unclamp the stock and to placethe remainder thereof in a suitable position to cut a second row ofblanks therefrom. As a, matter of economy it is desirable to cut thesecond row of blanks as near as possible to the front edge left on thestock after cutting the first row of blanks. To accomplish this it isnecessary to use a removable gage or stop, against which the front edgeof the stock may be placed while being clamped, and it is also necessarythat said stop should be removed from the surface of the cutting-blockbefore the cutting is begun.

Q Q represent vertical standards or rods secured to the cross-girt Aofthe frame A. These standards are provided at their upper ends withsuitable bearingisleeves, q q, to receive a horizontal rod, R, and toallow the same to turn freely therein.

To the rod R are secured fingers r 1', which are provided with sleeves1- r to surround the rod R, and with set-screws 7" 9 which turn radiallyin said sleeves and thrust against said rod and hold the fingers at anydesirable dis tance apart. The height of the rod is sufficient to allowthe fingers r r to rest horizontally upon the top of the cutting-blockwhen the latter is in position for cutting, and the length of thefingers is just sufficient to reach the line taken by the front edge ofthe knife in cutting a row of blanks. The gage-fingers r r are turned upover out of the way of the knife by turning the rod Rbefore starting themachine. The gage-fingers should be at such a distance apart as to bringtheir free ends against like points or notches of the stock after thefirst cut-that is to say, the distance apart of the fingers should beequal to the width or some multiple of the width of the blanks beingcut;

In practice the stock or leather is first clamped as nearly as may be inthe proper position upon the cutting-block with the assistance of thegage-fingers r r, the spacingrod is adjusted as above described, and themachine is set in operation by depressing the treadle C. After the firstblank is cut, the operator, by means of the handle with which thekuifeblock G is provided, moves the knifeblock to the left until thegage-plate springs into the second spacing-notch,- and then crowds saidknife-block to the right to hold said gageplate against the short sideof said notch, and this he does, without stopping the machine, with hishand upon said handle 9 until a row of blanks is cut from the stock,whereupon he stops the machine by taking his foot from the treadle 0,allowing the same to rise, as above described.

Obviously the gage-plate M is in effect a pawl, and may be made tooperate by gravity if placed above the spacing-rod, thus dispensing withthe spring m I claim as my invention-- 1. The combination of thecuttingblock, the clamping-bar, a treadle, connecting-rodsjointed to theends of said bar and to said treadle in front of the pivot or fulcrum ofsaid treadle, and a catch adapted to engage the said treadle and to holdthe same depressed to clamp stock between said bar and saidcutting-block, a cut- ,ting knife or die, and areciprocating headcarrying said knife or die, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the reciprocating head, the k nife-block, theknife or die secured to said knifeblock and traveling with saidknife-block pu said head at right angles to the path of said head, acutting-block arranged with its cutting-surface at right angles to thepath of said head, the clamping-bar arranged parallel to the saidcuttingsurface, a treadle, connecting-rods jointed to the ends of saidbar and to said treadle between the ends thereof, and a catch adapted toengage said treadle and to hold the same depressed, as and forthepurpose specified.

3. The. combination of the reciprocating head, the knife-block adaptedto slide on said head at right angles to the path thereof, a die ofknife supported on said block, a cuttingblock, a spacing-rod supportedon said head and provided with one or more rows of spacing-notches, eachof said spacing-notches having one side at about right angles to theaxis of said rod and another side slightly inclined to said axis, and agage-plate or pawl secured to said knife-block and free to slidethereon, and adapted to engage said notches, and by resting against thesides of said notches which are at right angles to the axis of said rodto gage the distance between the successive cuts of said die or knife,as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination of the reciprocating head, the knife-block adapted toslide on said head at right angles to the path thereof, a die or knifesupported on said knife-block, a cuttingblock, a spacing-rod supportedon said head and provided with one or more rows of spacing-notches, eachof said notches having one side at about right angles to the axis ofsaid rod and the other side slightly inclined to said axis, a gage-plateor pawl secured to said knife-block and free to slide thereon, and aspring connected to said gage-plate or pawl and to said block andforcing said gage-plate or pawl against said spacing-rod and intoengagement with said notches, as and for the purpose specified.

5. The combination of the head provided with a bracket having a hole,thespacing-rod turning in said hole and provided with spacingnotehes andhaving a square or flat sided portion, and having, also, externalscrew-threads, a sleeve having an internal screw-thread adapted toengage the screw-thread on said rod, said sleeve turning, withoutadvancing, 'in another bracket with which said head is provided, a platemovably secured 011 said head at right angles to said spacing-rod andpro-' vided with a notch adapted to engage the flatsided portion of saidspacing-rod and to prevent the turning of said rod, a die or knife, a knife-block supporting said k nife and movable on said head parallel withthe axis of said spacing-rod, and a gage or pawl movably supported onsaid knife-block and adapted to engage said spacing-notehes, wherebysaid spacing-rod may be adjusted longitudinally by the turning of saidsleeve to adjust said knifeblock and knife with reference to stockclamped below the same to bring the first cut of said knife at the edgeof said stock, as and for the purpose specified.

6. The combination of the head provided with a bracket having a hole,the spacing-rod turning in said hole and provided with spacingnotchesand having asquare or flat sided portion, and having an enlargedexternally-screw threaded portion, a sleeve having an internalscrew-thread adapted to engage the screw-' thread on said rod andsupported in another bracket with which said head is provided, and aplate movable on said head and provided with a notch adapted to engagethe'flat-sided portion of said spacing-rod to prevent the turning of thesame and to be disengaged from said rod to allow said rod to be turnedin said sleeve and to be withdrawn therefrom, as and for the purposespecified. I

7. The combination of the knife, the knifebloek having a gage or pawl,the head on which said knife-block is movable and which is provided withbrackets having holes, the spacing-rod provided with two or more rows ofspacing-notches adapted to be engaged by said pawl and to gage thedistance between successive cuts of said knife, the distance between thespacing-notches of the same row being constant and different from thedistance between the spacing-notches of any other row, said spacingrodturning in said holes in said brackets and having a fiat-sided portionprovided with as many flat sides as there are rows of spacing-notches,and a plate movable on said head and having a notch adapted to engagesaid fiat-sided portion of said rod and to prevent the same from turningand to be disengaged from said rod to allow the same to be turned tobring a different row of notches into position to receive said pawl, andthereby to vary the spaces between the successive cuts of said knife, asand for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, this 19th day ofNovember, A. D. 1886, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I WILLARD 0. JAMES.

\Vitnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE,

HERBERT R WHITE.

